Michael Audain unveiled a model of his proposed art museum in Whistler Tuesday morning. The long, low building blends into the landscape like a modern version of an old covered bridge, with a wing that juts out like the blade of a hockey stick.Handout
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Emily Carr’s painting War Canoe is one of the works in the Audain collection. The collection will soon be housed in a new museum in Whistler.
/ Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gal

The EJ Hughes painting Departure Bay is one of the works in the Audain collection. The collection will soon be housed in a new museum in Whistler.
/ Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gal

A Salish figure is one of the works in the Audain collection. The collection will soon be housed in a new museum in Whistler.
/ Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gal

Frederick Horsman Varley’s Dusk is one of the works in the Audain collection. The collection will soon be housed in a new museum in Whistler.

A Tsimahian chest is one of the works in the Audain collection. The collection will soon be housed in a new museum in Whistler.

Bill Reid’s Killer Whale sculpture is one of the works in the Audain collection. The collection will soon be housed in a new museum in Whistler.Handout
/ Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gal

Michael Audain unveils his new Art Museum in Vancouver on May 7, 2013. It will be built in Whistler.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

Michael Audain unveils his new Art Museum in Vancouver on May 7, 2013. It will be built in Whistler.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

Architect John Patau explains the Audain Art Museum in Vancouver on May 7, 2013. It will be built in Whistler.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

Michael Audain unveiled a model of his proposed art museum in Whistler Tuesday morning. The long, low building blends into the landscape like a modern version of an old covered bridge, with a wing that juts out like the blade of a hockey stick.Handout
/ .

Michael Audain unveiled a model of his proposed art museum in Whistler Tuesday morning. The long, low building blends into the landscape like a modern version of an old covered bridge, with a wing that juts out like the blade of a hockey stick.Handout
/ .

Michael Audain unveiled a model of his proposed art museum in Whistler Tuesday morning. The long, low building blends into the landscape like a modern version of an old covered bridge, with a wing that juts out like the blade of a hockey stick.Handout
/ .

Michael Audain unveiled a model of his proposed art museum in Whistler Tuesday morning. The long, low building blends into the landscape like a modern version of an old covered bridge, with a wing that juts out like the blade of a hockey stick.Handout
/ .

Michael Audain unveiled a model of his proposed art museum in Whistler Tuesday morning. The long, low building blends into the landscape like a modern version of an old covered bridge, with a wing that juts out like the blade of a hockey stick.Jenelle Schneider
/ PNG

Michael Audain, a prominent condo developer and arts philanthropist, serves as the chair of the Vancouver Art Gallery Foundation and is the gallery’s most prominent donor.Ian Lindsay
/ Vancouver Sun

B.C. arts philanthropist Michael Audain announces his $5 million donation to Emily Carr University for their new campus on Great Northern Way. Thursday, March 07, 2013.Jenelle Schneider
/ PNG

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WHISTLER -- People tend to think of new art galleries as big and bold and flashy. Michael Audain’s proposed art museum in Whistler is small and elegant and understated.

But not that small. At a press conference on Tuesday, Audain revealed that plans for the museum have doubled in size to 55,000 square feet. It is now expected to cost $30 million, $10 million more than when he announced the project last October.

A model of the proposed museum shows a long, low building that blends into the landscape like a modern version of an old covered bridge, with a wing that juts out like the blade of a hockey stick.

The building is sandwiched in-between a cluster of spruce trees. In fact, the building was angled so only one tree would have to come down during construction.

"The notion is that the building will be quietly inserted into a void within the forest," explained architect John Patkau, who designed the building with his wife and architectural partner Patricia Patkau. "It will be recessive and restrained in its visual presence."

In a nod to Whistler’s large snowfall, the roof has a very steep pitch. And in a nod to the fact the building is on a flood plain, the museum is on stilts, at points hovering 12 feet off the ground.

The exhibition space in the museum will be 20,000 sq. ft., which is the same size as the exhibition space at the Museum of Vancouver, and approximately 60 per cent of the exhibition space at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Patkau’s design features a main section for Audain’s renowned art collection and a new wing for temporary exhibits.

The main section is two levels, with the first floor featuring 14,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space with a 13-foot ceiling. The new wing where the building juts out will have 6,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space, and a ceiling that will soar up to 30 feet high.

The main building is 417 feet (127 metres) long and the wing is 164 feet (50 m). The building is 45 feet (13.7 m) high, when you factor in the stilts/piles.

The Municipality of Whistler was only informed of the new size on Monday, and still has to give approval to the new plan. But Whistler has already given the Audain Art Museum a lease on the site for 199 years, and Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden doesn’t think there will be any problems with the revised plan.

"This is just incredible," said Wilhelm-Morden. "When (Audain) came to us last fall and said he wanted to build a 25,000-sq.-ft. art gallery, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

"Then the application came in and it was larger than that, it was 45,000 sq. ft. We processed that, and now he says ‘You know what? It’s just not quite big enough, I have to build it a bit bigger.’ Oh my goodness — it’s pretty amazing."

Audain said he hopes to get approval for the building by the summer, and to finish it by early 2015. The museum will be paid for by the Audain Foundation.

Audain startled the art world by announcing he was building his own art museum last fall. The 75-year-old chairs Polygon Homes, and has been one of British Columbia’s most active art collectors and philanthropists, giving away $40 million through the Audain Foundation, including $10 million to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Polygon’s website said it has built 21,000 homes since 1980, but Audain said the art museum has been a real learning experience.

"It’s totally different to building condominiums," laughed Audain. "Show me plans for a townhome or a highrise and I can tell you what it’s going to cost, within $5 per square foot or something. But something of this nature, it’s a steel building and I don’t know exactly what it’s going to cost. It’s all new to me."

Audain wants to build quickly, and has. Originally, the idea was to leave room for a later addition, but he decided it made more sense to do it immediately. So he had Patkau add the new wing.

"We do try to move fairly expeditiously," he said. "Sometimes I think the architect has (said) it’s like a runaway train, we’re going so fast."

To the casual observer, the design looks a bit like a west coast native longhouse. Audain said artist Jim Hart made the same observation, as well as that the building looked like an upside-down canoe.

Patkau said the design was dictated by the site.

"Really what drove the design was fitting into the site, and putting the building in a place where there were no trees," he said. "That resulted in the building form. The fact that it reminds people of a long house is a plus."

The location will be across from Whistler’s municipal hall on Blackcomb Way.

"You approach the building from Blackcomb Way across a bridge," explained Patkau. "This bridge goes through the forest (and into the museum). We think that will be quite a special experience, and will take you into another world."

The design was also dictated by possible flooding from nearby Fitzsimmons Creek. The building will be constructed on piles one storey in the air.

"The building is constructed like a bridge," said Patkau. "Basically it’s on piers, and there’s a long, steel span structure. It’s exactly like a covered bridge."

Audain’s art collection includes well-known works by artists Emily Carr (War Canoes), Bill Reid (Killer Whale) and E.J. Hughes (Departure From Nanaimo). He made his announcement in a Polygon boardroom with a beautiful Takao Tanabe painting, Inside Passage: Malacca Strait, as a backdrop.

But when he was asked how many works of art he owns, he shrugged.

"Don’t know," he laughed. "I don’t count them. We have them in different locations."

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